Sai ran his fingers along the top of the his usual stool in the art room. Years of spilled paints and other art supplies had formed a multicolored, though uneven, layer that was more fun to look at than sit on. Sitting down and leaning back against the wall he propped his feet up on his desk and began a pencil sketch of the room as the other students were entering with the final bell. Halfway though class Sai looked at the sketch and began to critique his own work. By capturing the essence of movement in his fellow students without adding any distinguishing features, the overall affect made it seem as though the room was populated with ghosts.

Turning to the next page, Sai focused his attention on the teacher's sample still-life scene. Everyone else in class was joking as they drew half-heartedly, they were missing all the little details. There were two external light sources, the ambient and the lamp that was focused on the scene. The lamp's light was shining on an open pocket watch which reflected the light on another part of the stage. A flashlight that was turned on gave an interesting contrast of light in the folded cloth.

Getting up from his stool, Sai got a sheet of canvas from the supply closet and put it on an easel. It was not the images that captured his imagination, but the flow of light. The fruits, the objects, the cloth all blended into the same darkness as his brush flew across the canvas. The light was the important part of the still life, the dozens of miniature rainbows in the prism, each beam cutting through the shadows.

"Sai!" Yamato's commanding voice finally broke Sai's concentration. Looking up from the easel Sai noticed that it was 20 minutes after the final school bell.

"I just finished Yamato sensei," turning the easel around Sai presented his work for appraisal, "what do you think?"

Yamato barely looked up from his whittling as he gave a blunt, "Once again Sai you're brilliant."

Sai pinned the canvas to a thread that ran along the ceiling and grabbed his bag to leave when Yamato suddenly appeared right behind him. The man had a habit of sneaking up on students working, which had led to more than one nervous streak scribbled across an artwork. The man's presence was unsettling, but Sai put on his best smile.

"Aren't you forgetting something Sai?"

"I don't believe so Sensei."

"Your final project Sai. You've finished everything else this year, but you still have to get my approval for your final project. Drawing the same thing ten times using different techniques… you remember right?"

Sai held in his frustration remembering all the specifics. He had submitted four final projects already but they all were rejected. As he tried to think of a new subject Yamato moved over to the drying work he had completed earlier and looked at it with new eyes.

"Nobody doubts your talent Sai, but what you need is an expansion of vision. Your style is very rare and refreshing, but you need more experience with other techniques." Yamato touched the wet canvas and touched his chin, leaving a distinct black spot. "Portrait. Find a female classmate and do ten portraits of her."

"What…" Sai began to ask but Yamato was humming in a distracted manner which meant he was not going to respond to anything. Sai walked out of the room making a note in his sketchbook of the final project that had been decided for him.

After leaving school Sai decided to take a different way home hoping for a spark of inspiration to hit him. He passed a café where he would spend lazy Sundays sketching the buildings, the river park that had excellent lighting for sunsets, even the town's farmer's market but nothings jumped out at him.

The sensation of falling and hitting the ground left Sai reeling for a moment as he realized a door had been opened and hit him. A girl was speaking in somewhat frantic tones and offering an apology but she was not yet in focus.

"…I'm sorry Sai, I didn't see you there." The voice was Ino Yamanaka's, a fellow student. She offered a cold compress for his head, which had a welt growing on his forehead.

"I'm fine Ino." Sai finally looked up to notice that Ino was dressed in black and had a bouquet of flowers in arm.

"Okay then, I've got to run, sorry." With that Ino ran off from her parent's flower shop.

Inspiration seemed to strike Sai and he grabbed his bag and followed her. His head was throbbing somewhat and it was hard to run while holding the cold compress. Sai got his beret out of his bag and fixed it so it held the cold pack in place. It wasn't but a few blocks away that Sai found where Ino had gone, the town's cemetery. Following at a good distance Sai noticed Ino kneeling over a gravestone with several other students nearby. After ten minutes or so the two students, whom Sai noted as Chouji and Shikamaru left while Ino remained behind.

Sai grabbed his sketchbook and a charcoal pencil and was about to sketch the scene when he saw the note he had written himself about the final project. He slowly approached Ino who seemed lost in her thoughts.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Sai asked carefully. Ino looked up at him and shook her head. Taking a seat Sai finally saw the gravestone, Asuma Sarutobi. The dates showed that this was the one year anniversary of his death.

"Asuma sensei was our homeroom teacher in middle school. He was very active in the community, farmer's union, organized the middle school sports league, and he was a volunteer firefighter. Not only did he save two kids but he also found evidence that allowed police to catch the arson, he died of his wounds though."

Sai turned the page of his sketchbook and selected a different grade of pencil for the sketch. At first it was the lines in the stone and memorial text that his eyes focused on. The background, the trees, even the blades of grass catching tears... Sai lowered his notebook and looked at Ino, the tears flowing down her cheeks falling to the ground. The point of the final assignment finally became clear.

"Ino, I'm sorry." Closing his sketchbook Sai stood up and offered Ino his hand. Helping her to her feet they began walking out of the park. Ino seemed too distracted to notice Kurenai Sensei's arrival as she made her way back where they had come from.

"Sai," Ino began, "You said you were sorry. What do you have to be sorry for?"

"Yamato sensei told me that for my final project in art I need to do a series of portraits. As we were sitting there I thought to do one of you, but as I was drawing you were the last thing that caught my eye."

"Oh, really?" Ino sounded irritated. "That's one way to charm a girl." Though she sounded mad, a small smile finally parted her lips.

"I think my problem is being able to focus on people. I can draw anything under the sun, but I don't think I've figured out how to capture human emotion with my pencils and brushes. Until I do that, I'll never be great."

"I think you'd have to understand human emotion before you can even hope to draw it."

Sai stopped them both next to another gravesite. Looking down he saw the humble grave of his adoptive brother Shin. Wistful, yet happy memories, filled Sai's mind as he remembered his brother. Sai felt Ino's hand on his cheek after a moment, he hadn't realized that he had been crying.

"Come on, let me treat you to something." Ino asked as her voice resumed her usual cheerful tone. "It's the least I can do for smacking you in the head earlier."

"Ino," Sai paused as he realized the question was harder than it should have been to ask, "can I draw some portraits of you?"

"Hmm, only if they aren't nudes." She stuck out her tongue and laughed.

Sai found himself chuckling at her comment as well… only to realize that nude forms was another thing that he was in need of practicing. "Well, now that you mention…"

The jab in his ribs could have been described as anything but gentle, "Don't push your luck buster," was Ino's reply.